Vote for security

Saddam Hussein has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. This is one chapter in the war on terror that I am sure many are glad to see nearing a close.\nHowever, much work remains to be done in the fight against terrorism.\nFirst on the list is obviously North Korea.\nThe latest salvo from Pyongyang comes in the form of childish name-calling as the North's leaders denounced the United States as "warmongers" and Japan as "political imbeciles." It should be easy to address Kim Jong-Il as an idiot who does not know what he is doing, so let's get started.\nThe simple fact is that North Korea has little in the way of exportable goods. Therefore, the only way to make the world pay attention to it is to play these ridiculous but risky nuclear war games. For the time being, the strategy seems to be working, but you can pay attention to a child throwing a temper tantrum only so many times before setting a bad precedent. We should just ignore North Korea until it does what we want, and if it continues to pursue nuclear weapons, we should invade.\nThe second issue on the list hits much closer to home.\nFor years now, there has been a debate in this country about what legal rights to give terrorist suspects. No, I am not kidding. There are many people in this country who think terrorists should have access to civilian courts and civilian lawyers and be charged like regular criminals.\nThe latest in this argument comes as the Center for Constitutional Rights and several other advocacy groups challenge a law President Bush signed last month that forbids terrorist suspects access to civilian courts. According to the Justice Department, the problem with allowing these suspects access to lawyers is that it would reveal top-secret details about the CIA's interrogation techniques and the locations of several secret prisons.\nThat makes sense. Even ignoring the obvious argument about not showing mercy to those who show us none in return, it makes total sense that these people should not be able to reveal details about their interrogations to the world. That information is vital to U.S. national security and should not be exposed by anyone, least of all these suspects who will likely do whatever they can to harm our nation.\nSo how should all this fit into Election Day?\nTerrorism is the most important issue any politician will have to deal with once elected. Sure, education, health care and the economy are important, but terrorism and national security issues will always be of the highest priority.\nI have serious misgivings about many Democrats and their unwillingness to fight the war on terror as aggressively as President Bush has, but recent polling shows many Americans do not share those concerns. \nSo when you go into that ballot box and cast your vote, consider the above issues and vote for the candidates who will most aggressively prosecute the war on terror.